Californian Jack London (1876 -1916) was the most popular American author of his day – adventurer, romantic, realist, war correspondent, boxing writer, revolutionary, sportsman, socialist, public intellectual, dreamer…combative, contrary, contradictory, charismatic, and courageous – Jack London’s legacy lives here amidst the mystical magic of Valley of the Moon.

Perhaps no other American author encompassed more diverse subject areas and amassed more output within a short life-span of only 4o years – 50 novels, more than 200 short stories, plus a well-spring of non-fiction and photojournalism, London was a larger-than-life man of great passion, vision, and contradiction.

Join Doc and experience one of Jack’s most riveting and unforgettable short stories.

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Sport in the Americas and Caribbean and their connection to popular culture and politics: Cuba Embraces Soccer (football)!

Friday, August 3, 2018 at 1:00 PM

Join Danielle and Doc as they talk about Doc’s recent trip to Havana, Cuba. Cuba, already known for its passion and prominence in baseball, boxing and track and field as well as its outstanding athletic trainers and sports-medicine physicians is now accelerating a national push for excellence in soccer (football). Cuban viewership and interest in the recent World Cup was at an all-time high. Listen in for an insightful and spirited talk about Doc’s experiences and fascinating connections between Cuba and the United States irrespective of the perils of politics.

Thursday, July 26, 2018 at 7:00 PM

Join host Brenda Starr as she talks with Doc Stull about his recent trip to Cuba where he took in the art and jazz and literary scene as well as sport, politics, history, writer Ernest Hemingway’s Havana hang-outs, Cuba’s fascination with the recent World Cup and much more! The show archive link can be found below for the July 26, 2018 Edition of Thursday night talk.

Also, a jazz/poetry preview of Doc’s original upcoming spoken word performance entitled, Nicaraguan, Bolivian and Cuban Dairies: Literary and Musical Reflections on travels in the Americas with original Latin Jazz compositions and accompaniment by keyboardist/composer Tim Randles and friends at the Westhaven Center for the Arts on Friday, November 16, 7:00 pm.

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Sport in the Americas and Caribbean and their connection to popular culture and politics: The World Cup…and Esperanto?

Friday, July 13, 2018 at 1:00 PM

The World Cup soccer tournament wasn’t kind to teams from the Americas – early qualifiers included Mexico, Colombia, Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil. Argentina’s super-star Messi failed to deliver big in their game against France – and though Colombia, Mexico and Uruguay showed early flashes of potential, they were all eliminated early on leaving Brazil and Uruguay to carry the torch for teams from the Americas into the quarter-finals. Belgium defeated Brazil, and France vanquished Uruguay The championship game will be France against upstart Croatia, a country of slightly more than 4 million people on July 15, 2018.

And while nationalist fervor was on full display in the World Cup spectacle, we’ll take a small departure from our usual discussion today to talk about Doc’s foray into linguistics and the language of Esperanto – a language developed over 130 years ago by a multilingual Polish physician to overcome the barriers of language differences.

Join Doc and Danielle for a highly stimulating and timely discussion about the potential for Esperanto as one avenue in helping bridge language and even national barriers in the wake of the nationalistic tides that are rising world-wide. It’s a pretty sure bet however, that there will ever be an Esperanto soccer team competing in future World Cups!

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Sport in the Americas and Caribbean and their connection to popular culture and politics:

Friday, June 1, 2018 at 1:00 PM

Karla Wheelock: Mexico’s greatest athlete?

While not as well-known as boxing champion Julio Cesar Chavez, footballer Hugo Sanchez, baseball pitcher Fernando Valenzuela, or golfer Lorena Ochoa, Karla Wheelock is one of Mexico’s national sporting treasures. A lawyer, leadership expert, a public speaker and writer, Wheelock is the first woman from Latin America to ascend the north slope of Mount Everest and the first Latin American woman to climb the highest mountain peaks in all seven continents. Karla Wheelock combines precision athleticism, exquisite and detailed planning, human grit and courage in risking what few women or men have ever done. Why climb mountains? Because you can only ascend to how high you aspire. Wheelock transcends national and gender barriers as an inspiration for everyone to set one’s goals high. Listen to Danielle and Doc today on the Humboldt Magazine.

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Sport in the Americas and Caribbean and their connection to popular culture and politics: Rod Carew

Friday, May 4, 2018 at 1:00 PM

Panama’s Rod Carew was one of the greatest hitters in major league baseball history. He was a seven-time American League hitting champion, had 18 straight All-Star appearances, was the American League Most Valuable Player (1977) and had 3053 career hits with the Minnesota Twins and California Angels. He was elected to Baseball’s Hall of Fame in 1991.

Born in 1945 in the Canal Zone in Panama on a train in the rear of a segregated car, he was named Rodney by his mother to honor the physician who raced back to help deliver him. His family immigrated to New York City in 1960 where he was an excellent high school student and played semi-pro baseball before entering the minor leagues and then the majors, becoming Rookie of the Year in 1967 for the Minnesota Twins.

But Rod Carew’s story after his major league playing career ended is a humanitarian one – a combination of both medical and personal tragedy, resilience and astonishing coincidence. Listen to Danielle and Doc today for an amazing “fact is stranger than fiction” story.

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Sport in the Americas and Caribbean and their connection to popular culture and politics: Brazil’s incomparable SENNA

He was more than an just an athlete – a perfectionist, devout Christian, confident, complex, fearless and yet soft-spoken. A child of privilege, he nonetheless had a profound sense of social justice and gave millions to the under-privileged during his life and left a legacy after his death through his foundation. He set a standard of excellence and artistry that his peers and fellow athletes admire to this day.

He transcended sport and politics and was beloved and sainted in his home country, but he also had racing fans around the world. Generations who never saw him can see footage of his races as well as the award-winning 2011 documentary Senna https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BTqnKH3amY . He was only 34 when he died in a crash while racing in 1994. And, if you’re not Brazilian or a race-car driving fan, he’s the greatest athlete you’ve never heard of – Ayrton Senna.